Last weekend, as part of his “Speaking Louder Than Before” concert tour, contemporary Christian recording artist Jeremy Camp performed a concert at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore. As he does everywhere he goes, he chose a local organization to represent – and that night in Baltimore it was Helping Up Mission.
Jeremy Camp is a PK (that is church-speak for “preacher’s kid”) with a heart for God and a commitment to ministry. Thirty years old, Jeremy feels the urgency to Speak Up, Speak Now and Speak Loud (his new personal and ministry campaign). That was very obvious to the 40 men from Helping Up Mission who sang back up to him in his final song of the night, “There Will be a Day.”
My guys were overwhelmed by his spiritual focus and genuine interest in them, and not just Jeremy, but his whole band. Jeremy Camp is no stranger to heartbreak, having lost his first wife to cancer just months after their wedding. But he knew where to go to find strength, and he has continued to stay connected.
While the whole program that night was spiritually uplifting, there was no question that the most exciting part was that last song, “There Will be a Day.” The packed house of over 2,500, the Helping Up Mission choir, Jeremy’s band and even Jeremy, himself, really felt it. The words of the song and the hearts and smiles of the 40 man HUM choir just collided together into something special.
This song with our choir was posted on Jeremy Camp’s Official Blog and the band’s lead guitarist, Randy, wrote the first posted comment “most moving and memorable moment of the 500+ shows I’ve played with Jeremy. I wish you all could have been there. Notice I couldn’t sing b/c I was so choked up! Haha…great great memory!” Randy is playing front right and just backed away from the microphone. Jeremy got choked up and couldn’t sing a couple of lines in the final verse, himself. It was an electric moment. If you want to see a hand-held camera recording of “There Will be a Day,” produced a family who attended the program (whom you meet at the beginning of the video), you can see it by clicking on http://jeremycamp.typepad.com/jeremy/2009/10/my-entry-3.html.
God has been so good to us here at Helping Up Mission. With a lot of help from a lot of our friends, we are able to offer Hope, Answers, Change and Transformation (my new personal and ministry campaign!) to men who are desperately looking for it. An incredible night this was, but in reality, it was just another day of amazing things that God does in our lives here at Helping Up Mission. And he uses so many special people to do that here every day – and that is some of you. Thanks so very much.
Sincerely,
Pastor Gary Byers
Spiritual Life Director
PS I do want to give a special thanks to Keith Daye of our staff and Pam McKee, our volunteer musical coordinator, (she is the blonde with her back to the camera!) for their efforts to make this happen.